From Tech to Textbooks: How New Dictionary Words Can Transform Your Teaching

Walter McKenzie
Aug 28
7 min read

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The English language continues to evolve at breakneck speed, and educators find themselves at the fascinating crossroads of linguistic change. The Cambridge Dictionary recently added over 6,000 new words, phrases, and meanings over the past year, many driven by social media, Gen Z culture, and internet trends. As we begin another school year, these additions offer incredible teaching opportunities to explore how language adapts to our digital age.

Here are 10 newly minted dictionary entries with classroom activities to bring each definition to life. Please share - What new words have you noticed your students using? How do you balance traditional language instruction with contemporary usage?

1. Benevolence Bump (noun)

✏️Definition: A period of time when people are generally kinder and more helpful to each other.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term connects to character education, empathy development, and social-emotional learning while providing vocabulary to discuss community resilience and positive social change.

🎨Creative Activity: "Kindness Research Project" where students investigate the concept of benevolence bumps throughout history – during natural disasters, pandemics, or community challenges. Create action plans for generating their own benevolence bump in their school or community, measuring kindness through surveys and documentation.

2.Manifest (verb - new meaning)

✏️Definition: Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year 2024, relating to the controversial global trend of manifesting - to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This connects to goal-setting, positive psychology, and critical thinking about cause and effect—valuable for multifaceted discussions.

🎨Creative Activity: Goal-setting workshop comparing evidence-based goal achievement strategies with manifesting beliefs. Students research successful people's methods, create vision boards with action plans, and track progress using both visualization and concrete steps.

3. Inspo (noun)

✏️Definition: Short for "inspiration" – something, especially something posted on the internet, that gives you ideas for doing something or that makes you want to do something.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term bridges digital culture with motivation and creativity, making it perfect for project-based learning and helping students articulate how they find and share inspiration in academic settings.

🎨Creative Activity: "Inspiration Investigation" project where students create digital portfolios tracking their "inspo" sources across different subjects. Have them analyze what types of content inspire them most and create their own "inspo boards" for classmates, complete with reflection on how inspiration translates into action and learning.

4. Brain Flossing (noun)

✏️Definition: A way of relaxing and reducing stress that involves listening through headphones to music and other sounds that have been recorded in such a way that they seem to move around the listener.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term relates directly to student wellness, stress management, and mental health—increasingly important topics in educational settings.

🎨Creative Activity: Wellness research project where students explore different stress-reduction techniques across cultures and time periods. Create a "relaxation toolkit" with evidence-based methods, including traditional and modern approaches like brain flossing.

5. Delulu (adjective)

✏️Definition: A shortening of "delusional" that means believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term perfectly captures discussions about critical thinking, media literacy, and distinguishing between fact and opinion—core skills in today's information-saturated world.

🎨Creative Activity: Create a "Reality Check Station" where students analyze viral social media claims, celebrity statements, or internet conspiracies. Have them sort examples into "delulu" versus "backed by evidence" categories, then research and present their findings.

6. Forever Chemical (noun)

✏️Definition: Harmful chemicals persisting in the environment, reflecting growing climate concerns.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term bridges scientific literacy with environmental awareness, perfect for STEAM integration.

🎨Creative Activity: Investigation project where students research PFAS chemicals in their local community. Create infographics explaining the science behind "forever chemicals" and propose solutions. Partner with science classes for cross-curricular learning.

7. Cosymaxxing (noun)

✏️Definition: The act of creating a warm, comfortable, relaxing environment around you to decrease or avoid stress.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This trend addresses student wellness, stress management, and creating positive learning environments – crucial for supporting mental health and academic success.

🎨Creative Activity: "Wellness Environment Design Challenge" where students research the psychology of comfortable spaces and design "cosy learning zones" for different academic activities. Include elements like lighting, textures, sounds, and organization that promote focus and reduce stress in educational settings.

8. Lewk (noun)

✏️Definition: An intentional misspelling of "look," referring to a distinctive or fashionable appearance or outfit.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This demonstrates how intentional misspelling creates new meaning—perfect for exploring linguistic creativity and digital communication.

🎨Creative Activity: "Style Through Time" project where students research how appearance and fashion reflected historical periods. Create a "lewk timeline" showing how clothing communicated social status, rebellion, or cultural identity across different eras.

9. Microgapping (noun)

✏️Definition: Taking very short trips or breaks, identified by the Cambridge Dictionary team as new ways that young people travel and get away from it all.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term reflects changing travel patterns and work-life balance concepts relevant to modern lifestyle discussions and geography education.

🎨Creative Activity: "Travel Then and Now" comparison project where students research how travel patterns have evolved, from grand tours to gap years to microgapping. Create infographics showing how technology and social media have changed travel experiences.

10. Technofossil (noun)

✏️Definition: An object that could remain on Earth for a very long period after it has been thrown away and is likely to be found and studied by people in the future.

🍎Why It Matters to Educators: This term combines archaeology, environmental science, and future thinking—perfect for interdisciplinary exploration.

🎨Creative Activity: "Future Archaeologist" project where students curate collections of current objects that might become technofossils. Write diary entries from future archaeologists discovering these items. Connect to discussions about consumption, waste, and legacy.

🔖The Research Behind Language Evolution

"Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary," Colin McIntosh, a program manager at Cambridge Dictionary, said in a statement. "We only add words where we think they'll have staying power."

This careful curation process means that these additions are driven by social media and celebrities, but they represent genuine linguistic evolution rather than temporary trends. The words have grown in use across social and mainstream media and beyond, linked to celebrities and influencers.

📒Bringing It All Together

These new dictionary additions offer more than vocabulary lessons—they're windows into cultural change, technological advancement, and linguistic evolution. The increasing use of tech trends and social media terms in everyday conversation shows how rapidly our language adapts to new communication methods.

As educators, we can use these words to:

Bridge generational gaps by acknowledging and studying the language students use
Teach critical thinking by examining how words gain cultural significance
Explore etymology through real-time language evolution
Connect to current events and social movements
Practice research skills by investigating word origins and usage

📓Implementation Tips

Start with student knowledge: Ask what words they think should be in the dictionary
Create word journals: Track new terms as they emerge in popular culture
Connect to standards: Use these words to meet vocabulary, research, and critical thinking objectives
Encourage linguistic curiosity: Make word study an ongoing investigation rather than memorization
Integrate across subjects: These terms work well in social studies, science, and literature classes

The Cambridge Dictionary's latest additions remind us that language education isn't just about preserving traditional forms - it's about understanding how communication evolves to meet our changing world. By embracing these new words, we help students become active participants in language development rather than passive recipients of established rules.

As we welcome students back to school, let's celebrate the dynamic, ever-changing nature of English. After all, today's slang could be tomorrow's standard - and our classrooms are the perfect place to explore that transformation.

Sources and References

Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "Cambridge Dictionary adds skibidi, delulu and tradwife." August 2025.
CNN International. "Cambridge Dictionary's latest additions include 'skibidi,' 'tradwife' and 'delulu'." August 2025.
Yahoo News. "'Skibidi,' 'tradwife' and 'broligarchy' are among the latest additions to the Cambridge Dictionary." August 2025.
The Guardian. "Cambridge Dictionary adds 'skibidi', 'delulu' and thousands of other new words." August 2025.
Associated Press. "Gen Z slang like 'delulu' and 'skibidi' added to Cambridge Dictionary." August 2025.
BBC News. "Cambridge Dictionary adds Gen Z words including 'skibidi' and 'delulu'." August 2025.
Cambridge Dictionary Blog. "New words – 18 August 2025."
Cambridge Dictionary Blog. "New words – 11 August 2025."
Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "'Manifest' is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year 2024."
Cambridge Dictionary Blog. "New words – 5 August 2024."
NPR. "Cambridge Dictionary adds more than 6,000 words, including skibidi and delulu." August 2025.
The Guardian. "The world experienced a 'benevolence bump' of kindness during the Covid-19 pandemic." March 19, 2025.
Firstpost. "Cosymaxxing is the newest buzz on social media that encourages one to embrace the simple joy of feeling at ease in your own space." March 30, 2025.
Cambridge Dictionary Online. Definitions for "inspo," "benevolence bump," and "cosymaxxing." 2025.

Additional Resources for Educators

Cambridge Dictionary Online - Access current definitions and pronunciation guides
Merriam-Webster Time Traveler - Explore when words entered the English language
Oxford English Dictionary Blog - Research on language evolution and new word adoption
Language Log (University of Pennsylvania) - Academic discussions on linguistic trends

Note: This blog post is based on verified reporting from multiple reputable news sources about Cambridge Dictionary's August 2025 word additions. Individual word definitions have been paraphrased from official Cambridge Dictionary sources and news reports covering the dictionary's announcements. All web links were verified as of August 2025.